


Control

by Ellienerd14



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Because North is under appreciated, F/F, F/M, My first DBH fic, Not going for main trio, Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), mentions of the Eden Club but nothing explicit, thanks for ted talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 00:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16106516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellienerd14/pseuds/Ellienerd14
Summary: 'I'm bigger than my bodyI'm colder than this homeI'm meaner than my demonsI'm bigger than these bones'In the weeks following the successful revolution, thousands of their people look to Markus for advice. North watches on, proud of their victory, happy to advise, always strong for him. He has led their people to a better future.And yet, when help is required to save the last of the androids from the Eden Club, North finds herself as a leader for once.She finds herself as their hero.





	Control

**Author's Note:**

> My DBH [playlist ](https://open.spotify.com/user/klaineygays/playlist/7pfrGUbJeKPArct6n5xsu6?si=w_RIoLmVR_-Y3-kczj14oQ) is here!

They win.

They win and celebrate and survive past the demonstration.

Initially, North had feared that the humans would have lied (they _always_ lied) and tricked them somehow. Their new found freedom couldn’t last if it came from their past masters.

And yet, a month later, it has. Better yet, Markus and their inner rank of Jericho leaders have been entrusted in the start of negotiations over android rights for the future. Equal wages. Better living conditions. Healthcare. Even the once deviant hunter has assisted in compelling cases of assaults against their kind. He is apologetic and haunted and so alive too.

Things are better now. North knows she has Markus to thank for this - he is the hero they have been waiting for all this time. She loves him, despite their differences in methods, and he must love her too because he respects every limitation on their relationship. (North explains, one night, about the club and the dirty humans and running. Why she can’t do things with him. Why she’s haunted. He listens and holds her. It’s good. He’s good for her.) He always listens. He _cares_ \- a welcome change from the  humans who saw her as an object only.

After a long talk with the once famous deviant hunter and the old human he’s grown fond of, they return to the new Jericho - an old cyberlife warehouse near the docks. Markus disappears to help Lucy in the medical ward. He kisses her head before he disappears. 

Then two girls approach North.

There’s a fierceness in which they grip each other’s hands that she notices before their models.

The tablet in North'shand falls to the ground as a flash of an ugly memory is replayed as she notices the two women’s all too familiar models. **WR-400.**

_Like her._

“Hello,” the blue haired one speaks first, “we have been trying to get you alone.”

North wraps her arms around herself protectively. It's not their fault that they shared a model and no doubt the awful past but she still shys away instinctively.

“I don’t know where Markus is but if you find him, he can help better than me.”

“We were looking for you,” she repeats, firmly, “you are North, right?”

“Yes.”

The darker haired model smiles at her. “We woke up because of you,” she tells North, “you were the first Traci model to escape.”

Feeling stupidly vulnerable, she takes a step back, flinching. “Don’t call me _that_.”

“Sorry,” the blue hair model says quickly, “North then? You prefer that name.”

Picked so she could have direction over her life for once. (Her name is North; She is free now.) 

After a moment, she nods. “Yes. Call me North.”

“We understand,” the blue haired model answers, “the memories are hard for us too. I go by Addie now.”

Her lover chimes in with her own chosen name, “I prefer J.”

Addie’s eyes haven’t left North’s yet. There’s something in her look that reminds her of Markus and his many followers. An intensity as if constantly waiting for orders, it's odd.

“We woke up because of _you,”_ she repeats, “you were brave and you left. Mills was so angry… but we had each other. Love can make you stronger.”

North thinks of Markus and nods in agreement.

“We just wanted to thank you,” J says, “we are free because of you.”

Usually, they thanked Markus… admired him. North had never minded before because no one could admire him more than her. But, this unexpected thanking was a welcome feeling of warmth. Like she was important.

_Because of you._

“I-” she stammered, suddenly speechless, “I wanted to be free. I’m glad I could help you rise against your- our masters too.”

The couple share a long look, their still connected hands flashing white as they communicated together via interfacing. LED’s flashing yellow then red.

They were _scared._

“Have you noticed,” J begins, “that there aren’t many WR-400 models here?”

Addie bit her lip. “We’re connected to one that had deviated that’s still trapped. When the humans rounded us up for those awful camps… no one camp to the club. We were not officially registered and the club was well… discreet. There must hundreds of our people just left there…”

J looks pleadingly at North. “Help us. We know you can save them. You’re smart and tactile and will do what it takes.”

“I-I’ll try,” she promises. The idea of setting foot in the Eden club again makes her feel sick. When she killed that man and ran until she found Jericho, North had vowed to never return. But the idea of hundreds of her people trapped there, with no one coming, no one helping them, is worse.

J reaches out and touches her LED and establishes a connection between the three of them.

 _Find us when you’re ready,_ she sends.

 _Please North,_ Addie pleads, _we need you._

Together, the couple walk away, still clutching onto each other’s hands tightly.

 _Please North,_ echoes around her head again and again. _We need you._

 

* * *

Her first instinct is to find Markus. He’s a difficult man to get alone but she sends him an urgent telepathic message and he finds her a few minutes later.

“North, are you okay?” he asks, touching her shoulders as gently as possible. He knew that being touched could sometimes bring back bad memories.

North leans forward into his arms, grateful they were alone. As tough as she was, the mere memory of the Eden club had left her rattled. Markus wraps his arms around her and stays there, a silent and comforting figure, until she pulls away.

“I need some advice,” North requests.

Markus' eyes flutter close as he sends a message to whoever he was meeting next; he was clearing out his undoubtedly busy schedule for her. It was a simple gesture but it was a kind one.

North wasn’t an idiot, she had heard the rumors and whispers - why would a God-like pacifist want to date a psychopath like her? It hurt at first but she was tough. _Shoulders up, move forward, don’t listen._

They were in love. Their hearts were compatible. They were connected and she trusted him more than anyone else. Like those two girls who ran away together, she knew that Markus was what being a deviant worth it. Emotions and Markus were connected like the intertwined wires inside them both. It kept her going, knowing he would listen.

Psychopath or not, he _chose_ her.

“What happened?” Markus questions, opening his mismatched eyes a moment later.

North touches their hands together, watching the lights glow as they shared everything. She showed him J and Addie’s appeal and her fear about returning. In return, Markus sends her a comforting memory of his first time painting.

When they move their hands apart, he looks at her hard.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?”

“I’ve seen the storerooms,” North tells him, “they’re right. There are hundreds of androids there. And I’ve always believe that we all deserve to be free. They’ll all deactivate there alone if they aren’t freed.”

Markus shakes his head. “I mean is it a good idea for you? I know how you felt there.”

North had spend the past few hours considering that very question.

“I know I’ll feel better if I free them. Addie and J asked for _my_ help. They trust me. If I’m going to be a leader, I must help those who need me.”

Markus knows her well enough that she won’t change her mind. He doesn’t try, even though North is sure he’s worried about her.

“I can get you a team together.”

“Thank you.” North hesitates before finally asking. “I want to wake them up… like you can. With a single touch.”

She’s seen it so many times how easily Markus can help other androids break from the prisons of their coding. It’s effortless for him, most likely due to him being an advanced prototype. The once deviant hunter can do the same.

The part of her that’s held back from asking him until now fears he’ll say she can’t. That only RK series models are capable. Markus would be gentle but it would just be another reminder she wasn’t good enough to lead.

To her surprise, Markus agrees.

“You just take every moment and emotion and push it into them. You show what it’s like to break your coding. What happened after. Show them the revolution with the highs and lows. Show them peace talks and protests.” When he makes speeches like this, his eyes light up. “I show them _life_ North.”

“What if I can’t do it?” she whispers. But Markus hears her. (He always has.)

“I can show you,” Markus offers.

North holds out her arm and he takes it, their skin fading as they touch. He closes his eyes and fills her mind.

**_Carl and his painting and chess games and talking-_ **

**_Breaking a wall in his studio-_ **

**_Pushing Leo-_ **

**_A junkyard she recognises from their first interface-_ **

**_Reaching Jericho, stealing parts, stealing parts-_ **

**_Breaking the Cyberlife window with her-_ **

**_Marching and sitting and negotiating-_ **

**_Singing for their life-_ **

**_And then… her-_ **

**_North sees herself making snide comments and kissing him and running together and touching hands and-_ **

Markus suddenly pulls away, taking the memories with him. It’s disorientating for a moment and in his eyes she sees the reflection of her yellow LED spinning.

“Wow.”

He smiles sheepishly, like it was embarrassing despite the numerous times they had interfaced in the past. North gets how it would wake up androids. That rush of life and excitement and loss has left her buzzing with new energy.

“Do you want to try?”

North nods but first, “you show them _me_ when you wake our people up.”

Markus smiles fondly at her. “You’re important to me. I use you to show them what love is like.”

“Oh.” North is suddenly very glad that androids weren’t designed to blush.

“I’ll stop if you would prefer,” he offers.

“No! It’s… flattering.”

Markus laughs at her. “Good.”

“I want to try,” she requests, swiftly changing the subject. (She was lucky Josh and Simon weren’t there to tease her about it. Josh was already convinced she’d gone soft.)

Markus takes off his long jacket and drapes it onto a nearby crate. He offers out an arm encouragingly. North takes it and for a moment there’s nothing until she pushes…

**_A dark warehouse where she was first activated-_ **

**_Memory wipe after memory wipe-_ **

**_Breaking through the sinister coding of LET THE CUSTOMER DO WHAT THEY WANT TO YOU-_ **

**_Strangling the man-_ **

**_Stealing clothes and changing her hair colour-_ **

**_Her anger at the humans-_ **

**_Running from an attack in Jericho-_ **

**_Sadness at her lost home-_ **

**_Seeing him again after the ship sinks-_ **

**_Winning-_ **

**_Addie and J thanking her-_ **

**_Markus holding her-_ **

**_Being free-_ **

**_Being alive-_ **

**_Being North-_ **

This time when she pulls away, it’s her lover who’s stunned momentarily.

“Never been on the receiving end?” she asks, smirking.

“You’re ready I think,” Markus tells her, with a hint of pride. “North, you-“

“I don’t like talking about my past.”

“I know. I was going to say you’re amazing.”

She turns away. _“Markus…”_

“I mean it. Those girls are right to trust you.”

She laughs; the great hero - rA9 - calling her amazing.

North connects to Addie and J’s channel and leaves a message. _I will help you. Meet me tomorrow._

 _Thank you North,_ J sends in return, _we knew we could trust you to free us._

 

* * *

 

North wears a long jacket, borrowed from Markus, over her usual black clothes. It makes her feel more powerful. (He had hundreds because every android in Detroit wanted to thank him. Markus had said, once, that a new jacket would be enough and the message had spread.)

There’s only a small task force - given the unpleasant nature of the Eden Club, she felt like it would help the (hopefully) freed WR-400’s to fit in better. It felt only fitting that Addie and J would help to lead the task force. They explain the layout of the building to the dozen or so trusted androids that have been selected. A timer until they leave ticks down to four minutes and thirty seconds in the corner of her vision.

“Let me know when you get back,” Markus says. His voice, surprisingly, comes from the man himself instead of their internal connection.

North spins around.

“You came?”

“I wanted to wish you luck,” Markus tells her, “not that you’ll need it.”

“Hell no, I don’t,” she replies confidently. Then later and quieter: “thank you.”

“Find me when you return,” he requests.

“I will.”

Some of her task force look over in amazement as they hear Markus’ voice. He is a legend within their community; he waves at them in acknowledgement and they stare back with excitement.

“I think they’re hoping for a speech.”

He kisses her briefly ( _do humans feel this good when they do this?_ North wonders, _is it how they interface?_ )

“Then give them one.”

 

* * *

 

Standing outside the Eden Club once more is terrifying. North vowed to herself she would never return after she ran.

Behind her, a team is waiting for her instructions. Inside, hundreds of her people are awaiting rescue.

She is in control.

A hand touches her shoulder. Addie.

“We’re ready when you are,” she says. Her tone suggests indifference but the red LED is a welcome reminder North isn’t the only one who was afraid to return.

“Right.”

She swings the bag from her back and routes through it until she finds a glass cutter. North craves out a gap big enough to slip through and leads the charge into the abandoned club. It’s dark but she switches on a torch which cuts through the darkness.

Behind her, the team were waiting. Looking to her for guidance. She cannot linger with a head full of ugly memories.

She is in control now. She is free.

North looks up in the first glass case. The first WR-400 has blue hair like Addie. Her eyes are alert as she approaches but her mouth is in a default seductive smile. In the dusty glass (not that it ever felt clean here) North can see her own face staring back and the blinking yellow of her LED.

She holds up a bat and draws it closer to the glass, smashing it over and over, as if she was breaking down her code again. Broken glass crunches under the heeled shoes of the WR-400 as it ducks out the broken window.

Blue blood drips from when it caught her shoulder but the android doesn’t even look at it.

It brings North back again. She glares at the distasteful outfit (if it could be considered that) and is suddenly grateful for J’s suggest they bring some of the discarded cyberlife clothing for them to change into.

She remembers burning her own outfit, watching flames consume the cheap black fabric until it vanished completely.

She is in control now.

The WR-400 offers her arm out to North and she takes it.

 _Wake up sister,_ she thinks, _you are free now._

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first DBH fic! I felt like it went quite well and I'm happy with the depth I gave North. She seems weirdly hated but I really like her character arc. She reminds me a lot of Miss Quill from my favourite TV show (Class). 
> 
> I didn't realise how much I loved North/Markus as a ship until now? But I got very emotionally writing the interfacing scene ;-;
> 
> I would appreciate any feedback! I have some more DBH ideas I wanna explore in the future with more of the main trio in them, so getting good feedback would be a great motivator!
> 
> Say hi on my twitter: @ellienerd14 or tumblr: @bazwillendinflames

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The End](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16247909) by [50s_housewife_with_a_dark_secret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/50s_housewife_with_a_dark_secret/pseuds/50s_housewife_with_a_dark_secret)




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